The Return of Arthur
by OnceWhoMerLock
Summary: Merlin is still waiting for Arthur to return and is about to give up hope but a certain madman with a blue box turns up just in time...
1. Tardis in Camelot

**Hello everyone! This is my first story so, sorry if it's not that good. Hope you enjoy it anyway!  
**

**Chapter 1: TARDIS in Camelot**

**Merlin:**

Merlin was sat on a log next to the Lake of Avalon, still waiting for Arthur. 3 years had passed but he wouldn't go home to Gaius. He didn't want to face Gwen. He didn't want to see the castle of Camelot because it was too painful. It was too painful to think of home because it reminded him of Arthur. The knights kept returning to Merlin to try to bring him back home, but he wouldn't. He wouldn't because he believed in what Kilgharrah said. When Albion's need is greatest, Arthur will rise again.

One morning, when Merlin was washing his clothes in the lake, he heard a twig snap. Quickly, he grabbed a sword and looked at the tree from which the sound had come from.  
'Merlin? Merlin are you here?'

Merlin relaxed, it was a familiar voice. It was Gwen's voice. He was happy to hear it, for he had not spoken to her in a long time.

'Yes, I'm here,' Merlin answered.

Gwen came into sight. She smiled at him and then went to hug him. Merlin hugged her back tightly, but then let go. Gwen looked at him and said,  
'How are you doing? All the knights miss you. Gaius wants you to return as soon as possible, as do I.'

Merlin looked at Gwen, she had tears in her eyes, but tried to hide them.  
'I am sorry, but I cannot return. Not after what the dragon said,' Merlin said.

Gwen looked surprised, 'Dragon? What dragon?'

Merlin realized that Gwen was not aware of what Kilgharrah had said, so he sat down on the grass and patted the ground next to him. Gwen sat down next to Merlin and looked at him expectantly, waiting for his answer on the dragon. Merlin sighed and began to tell her what had happened on the day Arthur died. She looked like she had hope again.  
'If what Kilgharrah said is true, then I'm sure Arthur will return to Camelot if he comes back. You do not need to wait for him at the lake. Everyone who loves you is worried about you. Please come home, Merlin.'

Merlin looked away to the lake. He thought about what Gwen said and decided she was right.  
'I suppose you are right, Arthur would come to Camelot as soon as he walked out of that lake. I will return to Camelot tomorrow morning,' Merlin announced.

Gwen was happy that she had got Merlin to come home. She stood up, gave him a hug and got back on her horse to return to Camelot. Merlin waved her off and smiled. He thought about what he had just said to Gwen and really wanted to return to Gaius but he couldn't. He knew that everything he saw there would make him sad about Arthur. Merlin decided to go back and live in Ealdor with his mother.

**Doctor Who:**

The Tardis doors burst open and the Doctor and Clara barged in.  
'Did we lose them?!' Clara cried.

'I think so!' said the Doctor running around the Tardis console pushing buttons and pulling levers. The Tardis began to shake and the Doctor and Clara where trying to stay standing up. Clara held onto the console and pressed a button by accident and the Tardis started spinning! The Doctor shouted,  
'What did you do, Clara?!'

'Nothing! I just pushed a button by mistake!' Clara shouted back. The Tardis landed with a thud and the Timelord and companion fell to the floor.

**Merlin:**

It was now night and Merlin was nearly ready for his trip to Ealdor the next morning. He laid on the floor with a blanket over him and stared into the night. He started thinking about Arthur and everything that was happening at the moment. Merlin was lost in his thoughts but came back to reality when he heard a bang coming from deeper into the forest. He stood up cautiously and decided to go and investigate. He slowly but quickly walked deeper into the trees to find the thing that made the bang. Merlin looked behind a tree and there it was. Big and blue. The words 'POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX' were on the top of it.

There was a TARDIS in Camelot.


	2. Meeting the Doctor

**Thanks to mimbulusnargle for being my beta!:)**

**Chapter 2: Meeting the Doctor.**

**Merlin:**

Merlin was astonished at the sight of the big blue box. He walked up to it cautiously and just before he touched it with the tip of his finger, the door sprung open and out popped a man! He had a purple tweed jacket on with purple bow-tie. He had black pants on and a lilac waistcoat under his jacket. He jumped out of the mysterious box and moved quickly around the trees and examined the forest. Merlin's eyes followed him everywhere he went.  
'Hi!'

Merlin jumped. A woman came out of the box and was standing next to Merlin.  
'H-hello,' Merlin stuttered. The woman smiled at him and ran to the man's side. Merlin turned around and looked inside the box. He didn't see much before the man was next to him and slammed the door shut.

'Who are you?' cautioned the man.

'I'm Merlin,' replied Merlin, holding out his hand to the man's. The strange-looking man shook it and the woman skipped over to the boys and said in surprise,  
'Merlin? Like THE Merlin?'

'Erm, I guess,' Merlin mumbled.

'Where's Arthur?' The girl said. Merlin looked down to the floor and the man realised what point in time they landed in.

'Let us introduce ourselves, I'm the Doctor and this is my friend, Clara,' explained the Doctor, Clara smiled at Merlin and he smiled back.

'The Doctor? Doctor...of what? Doctor Who?' Merlin replied. The Doctor looked to Clara smiling and looked back to Merlin and exclaimed,

'Just the Doctor!'

'Right, nice to meet you, why are you here?' Merlin said curiously.

'Oh, er, we're just travelling,' The Doctor mumbled. Clara then jumped in,

'So where are we?'

'This! This is Camelot! Well the forests of Camelot,' the Doctor exclaimed.

'Oh,' Clara said disappointingly, 'then where's the big city of Camelot?'

'That way,' Merlin huffed, pointing to the left. The Doctor and Clara began walking to the left, with Merlin following him. The Doctor and Clara just walked right past Merlin's little camp, Merlin stopped there and got his bag and began walking another way, to Ealdor.

'I thought you said the Camelot city was this way,' Clara asked.

'It is, I'm just not going to Camelot,' Merlin stated. The Doctor and Clara looked at each other in confusion.

'But I thought you lived there?' Clara questioned.

'I did - but since Arthur died, I found it best to stay at the lake in case he returned. But he hasn't, so I'm going to go back to my old village.' Merlin wondered why he just told these people this. He had only just met them. They looked very strange, very different to what people were like here. The girl seemed to know things about him like she knew what was going to happen in the future and the man, he was just very jumpy and crazy. But there was something about them that made Merlin trust them.

'How long has it been? Since Arthur died?' The Doctor asked.

Merlin looked to the floor and replied, '4 years tomorrow.'

**Doctor Who:**

4 years? Clara remembered learning about the Arthurian legends at school. She remembered how Arthur came back on the 4th year anniversary of his death to find Merlin there, next to the lake.

Clara couldn't help what she said next, 'But you can't go! You need to stay here because Arthur is coming back! He's coming back tomorrow!'

Merlin stood there in awe. _Was this true? Could Clara be telling the truth? Is Arthur really coming back? Tomorrow?! _

Clara realised what she had just said and gasped. She put her hand over her mouth and said, 'Oops.' She remembered the Doctor telling her to never tell anyone in the past about what will happen in the future. It can cause dangerous things. The Doctor turned his back to Merlin and pulled Clara away so Merlin couldn't hear them.

'What did you do that for?' The Doctor asked Clara in anger.

'Sorry!' Clara started, 'It just slipped out! He needed to know anyway, so he would stay at the lake waiting for Arthur.' They both turned around and gave Merlin an awkward smile. He just stood there, looking at them. It looked like he was going to faint. Maybe what Clara told him was a bit too much for him to handle...


	3. Mystery

**Merlin:**

'A-are you sure?! He can't be! But the dragon did say-' Merlin shook his head as he paced. The Doctor and Clara stood watching him take it in. The Doctor looked worried. Really worried. Clara began to regret what she had just said. She could of changed history!

A few hours passed and everyone was sitting around the fire at Merlin's camp. Merlin stared into the fire. Thinking. He knew he should be happy. His best friend was coming back soon! But he had a strange feeling at the pit of his stomach. A feeling of angst. Something wasn't right but Merlin couldn't think of what it was.

* * *

The Doctor and Clara were sat on the floor, resting their backs on logs and warming their hands near the fire. Clara began to drift off and the Doctor told her to go to bed in the TARDIS. After Clara left, the Doctor looked to Merlin and saw that he was lost in his thoughts.

'Merlin?'

The Doctor waited for a reply. Merlin's head swayed slightly as his eyes followed the dancing flames.

'Merlin?'

Merlin looked up at the Doctor, having been pulled away from his thoughts, and replied,

'Yes, I'm fine. I should be getting to sleep, big day tomorrow.' Merlin stood up. 'It was great meeting you.' Merlin thought that he would never see the Doctor again, but he was wrong.

**Doctor Who:**

The Doctor walked slowly back to the TARDIS. When he got the doors, he saw that the key was still in the door. Clara's key. The door was open slightly, the Doctor pushed the door open and looked at the TARDIS console. Normal. Everything in the TARDIS was normal, except for the fact that Clara wasn't there. The Doctor thought she would have waited for him, to ask him questions about Merlin and Arthur. But she wasn't there.

'Clara? Are you in bed?' The Doctor said.

No answer.

He decided to go look in her room. When he got there it was empty. The bed was still made from the last time she slept in it and her pyjamas were still on her bed. The Doctor then went to go look in other rooms. He looked in the library, the swimming pool, the wardrobe and the bedrooms but he couldn't find Clara anywhere.

Something wasn't right. The Doctor returned to the console room and looked on the screen. He pushed a few buttons and a video of outside of the TARDIS, earlier that night came onto the screen. It shown, Clara holding the key in the TARDIS and starting to open the door. Men with red capes on horses appeared behind her and Clara turned around. The Doctor saw Clara being dragged onto a horse and they all rode away.

**Merlin:**

Merlin lay awake, thinking. He was thinking about what the dragon said. '_When Albion's need is greatest, Arthur will rise again.'_

He sat up with a holt. _'When Albion's need is_ greatest' Something bad is going to happen in Camelot.

Tomorrow.

**Sorry it took me so long to write the chapter, and sorry it's really short. But I think I know what's going to happen now. I'll try and get the chapters on every few days :)**


	4. We need a plan

**Hello! I'm really sorry it's been like longer than a month, but I just couldn't think of anything and then I got really busy. Right, I know I said in the last chapter that I know what I'm going to do now, well I kinda don't. So please leave ideas in the reviews so it can help me:)**

**Merlin:**

Merlin stood up as fast as he could and ran to the blue box. He knocked quickly and the Doctor opened the squeaky door.  
'I have something really important to tell you!' Merlin walked inside, quickly. His mouth was wide open.  
'It's. Bigger. On. The. Inside.' He said quietly. The Doctor was pacing, walking around the console, pressing buttons, looking at the screen.  
'Is it magic?' Merlin asked, still in shock.  
'No, it's - it's complicated and I really don't have time to explain it now.' The Doctor muttered.  
'What's wrong?' Merlin questioned.  
'Clara is missing! Some men with horses and red capes took her and-' The Doctor stopped. 'Wait, what was so important?'  
'Oh right! The day Arthur died, the Great Dragon told me that when Albion's need is greatest, Arthur will rise again. And if he is coming back tomorrow, then something bad is going to happen!' Merlin started to panic, he was also pacing with the Doctor.  
'Oh, that's bad. That is very bad!' The Doctor replied. 'The first thing we need to do is calm down!' Merlin was still panicking. 'Merlin! Stop panicking!' The Doctor put his hands on Merlin shoulders to keep him still and shook him a bit. It looked like he had calmed down.  
'We need a plan.' The Doctor stated.  
'I know who the men in the capes were, they are the Knights of Camelot. They were probably on patrol and got suspicious about Clara, next to this blue box.' Merlin said, looking around.  
'Oh! Knights of Camelot! They're good people right?' The Doctor asked. Merlin nodded. 'Right okay, let's go then!' The Doctor exclaimed. Merlin went to the door to go out but the Doctor didn't follow. 'Are you coming?' Merlin questioned.  
'We can get there in 2 seconds in the TARDIS!' The Doctor responded, smiling. 'It will appear right in Camelot!'  
'But isn't that why they took Clara? Because she was next to this strange box? And it will look like sorcery to everyone in Camelot when this thing appears right in the center!' Merlin spoke.  
'Good point,' The Doctor replied, 'Let's walk then.'

**Yes, I know it is really short but I'm tired and need more ideas. I think I might have an idea about Weeping Angels in Camelot but I still need ideas! Please review:) Ooh, and I'll try to update once a week.**


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